The Charlie Day meme, aka the Charlie Day Conspiracy meme, refers to the “Pepe Silvia” scene from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in which Charlie Day (who plays Charlie Kelly) stands in front of a bulletin board on which there are overlapping pieces of paper pinned, all connected by red lines Charlie (the character) has drawn on them. Day has a crazed look in his eyes and is explaining his conspiracy to someone offscreen.
What part of It’s Always Sunny did the meme come from?
The meme originates from a scene in the TV show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, specifically from the episode titled “Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack” (Season 4, Episode 10). In the episode, Charlie and Mac (Rob McElhenney) find themselves working in the mailroom of an office. Charlie thinks something suspicious is going on behind the scenes at the company because he noticed that the company has been receiving an influx of mail for someone named Pepe Silvia.
He says that no one named Pepe Silvia works at the company—but Mac denies this and says that Pepe does work at the company and said he hasn’t been receiving his mail. Mac also says he’s worried that he and Charlie will lose their jobs over the Pepe fiasco.
Then, in true It’s Always Sunny fashion, Charlie reveals that the pair was already fired from their jobs three days ago… and that he’s been hallucinating a man named Barney who told him about the Pepe Silvia conspiracy.
What does the Pepe Silvia meme mean?
The meme pretty much communicates what Charlie was doing when explaining Pepe Silvia to Mac: Overthinking, being delusional, connecting things that weren’t related to each other, creating false theories, or passionately ranting.
The meme format is typically used to represent someone going overboard with a conspiracy theory or attempting to explain a complicated or convoluted idea with excessive enthusiasm. It humorously captures moments when someone seems to be spiraling into a theory or narrative that is likely more complex than reality.
For example, some captions for the meme could be “me planning the hundreds of different ways a simple, upcoming 2 minute social interaction can play out,” or “when someone asks why I broke up with my ex, and I’m like…” or “qanon trying to figure out if COVID is still a hoax now that trump got it.”
The meme has also come to be known as simply “Pepe Silvia,” and “Charlie Conspiracy Meme.”
Popularity
A meme has to reach a certain (high) level of popularity for there to be a meme generator created specifically for it. So, of course, there is a meme generator for the Charlie Day meme, courtesy of ImgFlip. There are also many versions of the meme available for use on GIPHY. Some show the traditional photo, while others have replaced Day with video game characters.
Unlike many other prolific memes, there aren’t many t-shirts sold of the Charlie Day meme. That’s probably because it’s such an elaborate visual. There are, however, birthday cards and posters with the meme on them for sale.
Cultural significance and meme variations
The meme parodies the sort of conspiracy theory thinking prevalent in a “post-truth” world. The term “post-truth” was Oxford Dictionaries international word of the year in 2016—the year Donald Trump was elected President of the U.S.—and defines it as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
As such, it is often used in a political context, such as the 2020 election, which Donald Trump lost but maintains was rigged against him.
It is also used as a reaction meme to signify stress and frustration, whether warranted or exaggerated.
On a larger scale, the meme has transcended the context of It’s Always Sunny, becoming a standalone image that is immediately recognizable out of context.
Other It’s Always Sunny Memes
In addition to being a beloved sitcom, It’s Always Sunny is a treasure trove of memes. Alongside the Charlie Day meme, the show has also produced the Danny Devito coming out of a couch meme, the “I ate all the pizza and drank all the beer” meme (which also comes from a Day line in the show), and the “Did somebody get addicted to crack?” meme.
